Ioannis K. Erripis studies mechanical engineering and works as designer & developer at Velocityfarm. He is passionate about robotics and UAVs, they sum up everything that fascinates him, from aviation and space, to science fiction and industrial design.
Ioannis regularly reports on technology related subjects through his blog MechDesign.xyz. He joined the ROBOTS association in early 2011 as a news reporter for the ROBOTS podcast and robots.net and now leads all technical aspects of the Robohub project, including website design, implementation and branding. He is also responsible for all social media aspects of both the ROBOTS podcast and Robohub.

Google completed a major step in its self-driving cars project by presenting its first purpose-built autonomous car. The car, which has no steering wheel or controls, can accommodate two people and some luggage.

UK’s Ministry of Defense invested 1.1M GBP in a new robotic mannequin that will test protective suits and equipment for the UK’s armed forces. The project is named “Porton Man” and is able to emulate the movements of a soldier (march, sit, kneel and pose). It is equipped with more than a hundred sensors that monitor in real-time the performance of the tested article.

What’s with all the quadrotors in auto advertising these days? And what do quadrotor swarms have to do with cars? Probably not much at all, but apparently associating your auto brand with high-performance quads is de rigeur. Subaru is following the lead of Lexus (which launched its quadrotor ad last November), upping the ante by having the driver of the new WRX STI engage in a pas de deux (or should we say, ‘pas de plusieurs?’) with a swarm of 300 LED-lit quadrotors. It makes for some pretty stunning footage, but before you get too excited, unlike the original Lexus ad (which had at least a decent portion of real footage from Kmel’s impressive quads) almost all of the quadrotor eye-candy in the new Subaru ad is CGI. The automaker’s desire to associate themselves with cutting edge technology may be a sign of just how popular quadrotors have become, but is hyper-realistic CGI enhancement inflating consumer’s expectations of what quadrotors can actually do? (see the video below)

[UPDATE] – KUKA just published the well-advertised video of the table tennis match of top athlete Timo Boll and one of its fastest robots, the KUKA KR AGILUS. Don’t forget that even if the actual movements performed by the robot are real, the match is a directed and scripted advertisement with multiple takes (as you can see in the making of video below). It’s a very impressive presentation of the agility and speed of AGILUS, but it’s not an actual match. KUKA is celebrating with a very popular sport in China to mark the occasion of its new plant in Shanghai.

NASA, MIT and DARPA will host the Fifth Annual Zero Robotics SPHERES Student Challenge today at 7:30am (EST). The event will take place at MIT’s campus in Cambridge, Mass. where student teams from the US and other countries will join NASA, ESA,MIT, DARPA, the Center for the Advancement of Science in Space, and IT consulting firm Appiro.

The time has come for the robots competing on the DARPA Robotics Challenge (DRC) to make their first public appearance. The trials for the final 2014 event will take place on December 20-21, 2013 and you can watch them live (or up close if you are lucky!). As stated on DARPA’s website:“The Trials will provide a baseline on the current state of robotics and determine which teams will continue on to the DRC Finals in 2014 with continued DARPA funding. Competing in the 2014 Finals will lead to one team winning a $2 million prize.“
Click after the jump for the live video and twitter stream or go directly to http://www.theroboticschallenge.org/.

If you still have holiday shopping to do, these gift ideas from the Robohub team will be sure to please the robot fans in your life. From stocking stuffers to once-in-a-lifetime gifts, you can find something for every budget and beyond. Have fun!

This is a brief presentation of some of the most widely used robots (or remotely controlled, semi-autonomous systems) from militaries around the world. There are numerous other projects that are currently under development and others that are either abandoned or replaced but here only systems that are currently under use are mentioned. If you have any objections or suggestions you are welcome to make a comment.

ESA is organizing the first robotic competition on a mock-up of the International Space Station (ISS). The competition is open for young people from ESA member states who can compete in three age groups between 11 and 19 years old. The regulations leave a lot of room for innovation and creative freedom, practically only safety requirements are imposed.

One of the biggest steps in space exploration, the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) named Curiosity was launched today with an Atlas V 541 vehicle and it is now on its way to Mars. The Curiosity rover is similar in size and weight to a small car and it will be the largest spacecraft to ever land on Mars with a very elaborate procedure that not only enables it to reach safely the Martian surface but also to land in a relatively tight spot with great geological interest.